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Sainsbury's gets tough on parking space abuse

The Prima Baby and Babyexpert campaign to protect parent and child parking spaces from drivers who abuse the system has won nationwide support from Sainsbury's supermarkets.

Following their trial at 61 stores within the M25, where a £50 fine was imposed for those who parked in parent and child spaces when they had no child with them, Sainsbury's have announced that they will be rolling out the scheme to 400 Sainsbury's stores nationwide. People who hog disabled parking spaces will also be fined.

'The vast majority of those who shouldn't be parking in these bays think that because they are popping in for a few things they won't cause any inconvenience to the people who really need them. But they do,' explains Gavin Clarke, manager of Sainsbury's car parks.

"These spaces are there to make life easier and more convenient for those who need more help We've tried gentle persuasion, but 'monitors-on-motorbikes' is the first scheme that's produiced serious results."

Uniformed monitors on motorbikes will be patrolling 18,000 parking bays, and will be handing out £50 fines for misuse of parking in a mother and baby or disabled bay. All profits generated by the scheme will be donated to charity Mencap.

The Prima Baby S.O.S. campaign has already won support from the Government as well as thousands of mums on the Babyexpert website. Click here to read more about it, and here to add your name to our petition. The more Babyexpert users who add their name to our list, the more influence we can have on other supermarkets, so if you would like to see your local supermarket following the Asda and Sainsbury's initiative, sign now!